An all-new Honda CR-V has been announced today, with the new car going on sale in October.Unusually for a new car, it is slightly smaller than the outgoing model. It is 5mm shorter and 300mm lower, but a lower floor means luggage space has actually gone up by 148 litres to 1648 litres. Interior space is also slightly better and the new CR-V has one of Honda’s clever rear seat folding systems (first seen on the Jazz). This one enables the both the squab and the backrest to fold down with a single movement.

The first of 500 new employees have started work at Swindon, as Honda plans to double UK production in 2012. Honda has added a second shift in order to take British production up to 180,000 per year with 3,500 workers. Last year Honda decided that the only way to deal with the high value of the Japanese yen was to increase production outside Japan. The UK is Honda’s main European production centre, and so will take more responsibility for meeting overall European demand.